Birmingham Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip

Terry, welcome to Paradise.

Forum, that is.

-I never thought coming to Birmingham I'd be coming to paradise.

-Well...

-Should be venture in and see what it's like?

-Oh, no.

-I don't want to chance it.

-Come on, Tel.

-It mightn't be paradise.

-Come on.

-OK, I'll follow you.

It's taken 50 years in broadcasting, but I finally cracked it.

HE LAUGHS

A chance to meander around the country, see the sights,

meet the people.

And, oh, yes - eat and drink.

Is melt in the mouth a suitable phrase?

I've hailed a cab with one of London's fineness cabbies,

Mason McQueen,

to steer me around Britain's highways and byways.

I'm looking forward to a decent meal, are you?

Oh, I'm starving. I can't wait, Tel.

Our route has been mapped out by an adventurist gourmand,

Samuel Chamberlain, in his book, British Bouquet.

Almost 60 years later, we're following in his footsteps...

I'll do all the work, Tel.

..to seek out weird and wonderful regional British cuisine

and discover how our tastes have changed over the years.

Do it right, son.

-Whoo!

-THEY LAUGH

-Have you eaten an ostrich?

-No. You?

I found it very difficult to catch.

MASON LAUGHS

Bang in the centre of the country,

Birmingham is known as an industrial powerhouse and cultural melting pot.

But what are the culinary highlights of this fine city?

Relax, people of Britain,

your roving food reporters are revved up and raring to go.

Back in 1963, our esteemed guide, Samuel Chamberlain, described

Birmingham and its environs as "grimy and densely populated"

and dismissed them as not being worth the visit.

Dear old Chamberlain has taken a rather, well, critical view.

He says,

"We would willingly sidestep the iron fields, collieries

"and belching chimneys that blemish the Black northern precincts."

Well, it's not quite like that now, is it, Mason,

-as you're driving along?

-Not at all, Tel.

But he didn't fancy it, did he? But I think it's worth a visit.

Do you know, Mason, I think that in view of what can only be

described as the cavalier attitude of old Chamberlain to Birmingham,

-it's up to us to redress the balance.

-Oh, yes.

Allow Birmingham to assert it's due and true place

in British culinary history.

From being a medium-sized market town in the Middle Ages,

Birmingham has grown to become Britain's second city.

And there's been a few lumps and bumps of the architectural

and town planning variety to iron out over the years,

but from where I'm standing, those days are firmly in the past.

Come on, Mas, we'll take a little shank's mare walk around here.

This is Victoria Square.

Apparently, this thing behind us, which is fairly modern,

is called - they call it here - the Floozy in the Jacuzzi.

-Oh, is it?

-Yeah.

She's a lot more than a floozy, that one, isn't she?

Are we looking at her best side?

And that huge thing that looks like the Pantheon in Paris,

that's the town hall.

-God, this was a confident city, wasn't it?

-Oh, yeah.

Of course it's the people that give the place its character,

and in Birmingham, a warm welcome is accompanied

by that West Midlands twang.

Today ,we've got red Thai curry meatballs,

chilli slaw and a garlic flatbread.

Absolutely beautiful.

Which you're cooking is traditional Birmingham food, isn't it?

It's, uh...

-No.

-THEY LAUGH

Before we get started on this Birmingham food exploration,

there's one building I'm very keen to visit,

and not just for its architectural merit.

-What do you think of that?

-I don't know what to say, Tel.

-Do you?

-Look at it.

It does catch the eye. You can say that about it.

The Birmingham city library opened in 2013

and is now the country's tenth most popular visitor attraction.

Over a quarter of a million books every year

are borrowed from its ultramodern shelves.

But I wonder if it'll have the one I'm looking for.

-This is some place, Mason.

-What a place.

Could we trouble you, Zoe?

-You can, yes.

-Look through and see if you can find British Bouquet.

-Samuel Chamberlain.

-I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't stock it.

-He wasn't very positive about Birmingham, was he?

-Yeah.

-Was it not?

-No, he wasn't.

-No, he thought Birmingham was rubbish.

SHE GASPS

I would highly disagree with him.

-Of course you would.

-Birmingham is great.

Oh, Zoe, while you're looking, have you got Terry Wogan's autobiography?

-You probably ain't.

-Terry Wogan...

It's rarer than hen's teeth.

-That's why I haven't seen it.

-THEY LAUGH

I'm sure every copy of my book is out. What about old Sam's?

He didn't think Birmingham was worth bothering with.

The question is - does Birmingham feel the same about him?

I don't know. Anything standing out?

-Nah, no chance.

-It might be that we don't have it.

-Just a very rare book, I think.

-Thank you for your efforts.

-You're welcome, guys.

-Thanks very much. Cheers.

-Have a good day.

-You too. Bye now.

-See you.

I think that's called poetic justice, isn't it?

And so we set out like unguided missiles

on this Birmingham food trip.

Luckily, I've been at this game long enough to know the best place

to get started is the market.

Birmingham is famous for being Britain's most multicultural city,

and its central food market in the iconic Bull Ring shopping centre

is the place to go to get a feel for the flavours that

make this city tick.

Now we're in this urban environment, I feel this market is going to

be in-your-face.

HE LAUGHS

It's going to be full of stuff that you won't eat, I'll tell you.

Pig's cheeks. Cow's feet.

Ohh. You don't like cow's feet, Tel.

Don't tell me you like it.

No. OK, I'm pushing it a little bit with the cow's foot.

There's been a market here in the Bull Ring since the Middle Ages.

It took its name from the ring that the bulls used to be tied to

before being taken off for slaughter.

Another day, another market.

-IN BRUMMIE ACCENT: All right, Terry.

-Oh, you can do one.

-Welcome to the Bull Ring.

-I feel at home immediately.

Look at this place, Tel, it's great.

-Lovely meeting you.

-Nice to meet you, my darling.

-Terry Wogan.

-Ah!

Thank God somebody remembered my name.

The market has over 140 stalls, but it's most famous for its fish.

-This is great. I love a fish counter.

-Hello, Mr Wogan!

-Pleased to meet you, sir!

-Pleased to meet you, sir.

-How are you, sir?

-Look at this fish. When did this come in?

-This morning, sir.

This morning, early hours of the morning, sir.

And you're going to sell it all?

God willingly, sir. We got these from India. That's from India.

-This is from the Caribbean.

-Is that red snapper?

No, that's a red butterfish. Grouper, the grouper family.

-Oh, right. Do you eat a lot of fish at home?

-I do.

Two or three times a week, sir, if I can. I do love my fish fingers.

Birds Eye. Ooh.

As you'll expect, there are also several butchers selling

traditional cuts and some more rarefied delicacies.

-Enochs.

-All Chinese.

-What are they, butchers in Chinese?

-I hope that's...

-Morning!

-Is that Chinese?

-Yes, sir.

Why are you selling British meat in Chinese?

We serve a lot of Chinese people, Terrance.

They come from all over the Midlands.

Are the majority of your customers Chinese, then?

I would say about 90%. Really?

Hong Keen, this one.

I've done that one before after a few too many beers. Honking.

THEY LAUGH

-These are... And they're cow's feet?

-It's the cow feet.

-What do you do with the cow's feet?

-For soup.

-Ah.

-Some people, Jamaican, cook like a curry soup as well.

-And tripe?

It's been ages since I've seen any decent tripe.

Well, a lot of Chinese, they like it.

-Chinese again?

-Chinese, yeah.

-This is what we seem to be hearing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Do you have a lot of Chinese?

-Do you supply a lot of restaurants?

Yes.

The Chinese community in Birmingham is now

one of the biggest in the country.

Migrants from Hong Kong first came here after the war,

and in recent years, there's been a huge influx from mainland China.

What are you selling here?

-The fish balls.

-Fish balls?

Chinese fish ball.

And they are cooked?

Uh...

You can stir-fry, steam, boil everything.

-It's all Chinese specialities.

-Yeah.

-What are they?

-Those are Chinese buns. Chicken bun.

-Chicken buns.

-They'd be delicious, wouldn't they? Do you steam those?

-Steam.

-Fantastic. I love Chinese food.

-Yeah, I do too.

Another large immigrant population in Birmingham,

almost twice as big as the Chinese, and at least as old,

are the Irish.

I know that Birmingham used to be, after London...

..the second choice,

-I suppose, really, for the Irish who came here after the war.

-Yeah.

In the late '40s, '50s and '60s,

to do the kind of work that English people didn't want to do.

Digging roads, building places, demolishing buildings after the war.

They all made a good living here,

but Ireland was a fairly hungry place.

And they... I think they found a good life here.

The Old Crown, which dates from the middle of the 14th century,

is Birmingham's most venerable inn

and very popular with my fellow countrymen.

I have arranged to meet up with a group of old fellows who came

over here around the same time as I did.

-Good morning, gentlemen.

-ALL:

-Good morning.

-How are you all?

-Fine, thank you.

-Thanks for turning up for this. Terrific.

-May I sit down amongst you?

-You certainly can.

I left Dublin in 1969. But didn't come to Birmingham.

-What about you?

-I lived out here, Limerick '66.

You're a Limerick man as well? Good man. We must stick together.

And what about you, gentlemen? Where are you from?

-I'm from Cavan.

-Cavan.

-Sorry, Chabhain.

-Cavan.

-Chabhain, yeah.

We are following the footsteps of an American who wrote a book

called British Bouquet, which is an epicurean tour of Britain.

And he didn't think much of Birmingham.

He kind of glossed over Birmingham. He said it's an industrial city.

He pictured it as a kind of desperate place.

That wasn't your experience. This gave you new life, didn't it?

There was an awful lot of construction work,

infrastructure going on, roads, rebuilding.

Like Spaghetti Junction, for instance,

and all that type of thing was going on.

That was the attraction, wasn't it? That it was an industrial city.

-There was work.

-Yeah.

In the '50s and '60s Birmingham,

an Irishman would have gone to work on the kind of breakfast

they've been raised on back home in rural Ireland -

cold-pressed beef, pork scratchings

and even good old bread and dripping.

Forgotten food from a bygone era.

You know, the dripping on the bread.

It's a long time since I've had dripping on bread,

I'll be honest with you.

-Would you eat this kind of stuff?

-No.

TERRY LAUGHS

I couldn't anyway cos I'm in a gluten-free diet and there's barley.

I see, yeah. That's always the excuse.

-Or good ole scratching for Lent.

-Scratchings, yeah.

-I mean, do you eat a lot of scratchings?

-No.

-THEY LAUGH

-And the old pint of stout.

Was that what sustained you throughout the hard times?

-Not really. Not with drinking, no.

-No? No, neither do I.

I stopped drinking Guinness as soon as I could afford vodka.

THEY LAUGH

There is a popular idea that there are more canals in Birmingham

-then there are in Venice.

-Really?

-Yeah.

But luckily, there's no gondoliers.

Nobody is singing out of tune as they go up and down the canals.

I'm looking forward to seeing it,

because it's quite a feature of the city, isn't it?

A city built on canals.

I hope their infrastructure is a little bit better than their roads.

They love a flyover here, Tel, I know that.

By the end of the 18th century, Birmingham

and the surrounding Black Country was the foremost industrial

and manufacturing centre in the world.

And the canals played a big part in that.

At their peak, they were so busy they had to install gas lighting

around the locks to allow round-the-clock operation.

These days, the canals are less hard work and industry,

more leisure and fine dining, as I'm about to find out.

-We have melon and Parma ham.

-Oh, how lovely. Thank you.

-Enjoy.

Travelling around Birmingham by car, it's not ideal.

But by canal, by this, when you're going along the canals

-by narrow boats, it transforms the city.

-It's beautiful.

-It's a completely different look.

-It really, yeah. Absolutely.

Even the sky seems better, seems different.

100 years ago, it would have been

absolutely full of boats loading, unloading.

It would have been a dirty, noisy place.

The city was very, very small.

It wasn't a city until the canals arrived.

And with the coming of the canals, came people.

They could bring fuel, there was work.

And the city grew very rapidly.

The canals, initially, would have carried absolutely everything,

including food.

And certainly later on when the railways came,

perishable food would go by rail.

But things like grain, flour, sugar, salt,

that would still be carried by canal.

And, of course,

you needed to fuel the factories that were producing food.

So here in Birmingham, there was the custard factory.

Cadbury, certainly, they carried chocolate crumb. They carried milk.

-Of course, Bournville.

-Bournville, just up the road.

So the links with the canals and food are, well,

there inextricably linked.

So here we are eating Parma ham and melon.

Probably they wouldn't have eaten that 100 years ago.

It's a little bit different to what they'd have been eating

on boats 100 years ago.

They wouldn't have heard of Parma ham. Or melon.

What's the traditional food of the Black Country?

Black Country food, it's simple.

I suppose like most working-class food. They make the most of things.

They'd have used scraps. They'd have cooked with offal.

Erm...

Food would have been simple.

And if you are boating, it would need to be easy to cook,

easy to serve.

So a pot, a good pot of something.

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MUSIC PLAYS

Well, I've had my starter. Very nice it was, too.

But it's coming up to lunch time,

and I feel we'd be doing ourselves in Birmingham a disservice

if we didn't continue this gastronomic voyage of discovery

in the Chinese quarter.

Now we are in it. We are in gritty Birmingham. Let's bounce a bit.

-We're not in the country no more.

-What? We're going to be like...

-Have a presence about yourself.

-We've got to be like urban sophisticates.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Know what we're doing.

-That's us, OK.

-We know what we want.

-A little pimp walking, eh?

We want some good Chinese!

And so we arrive at a fine looking restaurant,

although the proprietor's name might raise a few eyebrows.

IMITATES SEAN CONNERY: Greetings, Terry. Do you like dim sum?

-Strict rules of golf, Mr Bond.

-Welcome, this way, please.

It being lunchtime, the only thing to eat is dim sum,

those little Cantonese mouthfuls of deliciousness.

Quick, Mason, to the dining room!

-You're not James Bond Wong, are you?

-I am.

My father, unfortunately, named me after the great Secret Service spy.

There's nothing wrong with that. HE LAUGHS

Unfortunately, I haven't got the looks or the charm.

So, you know, I've got a licence to serve you.

But your food is your charm, sir.

Tell us about your dim sums.

I've got the little lovely story I usually tell people about dim sum.

It was the emperor and their favourite concubine.

The concubine said,

"Emperor, you know, you always give me big feasts, a big piglet.

"You know, I got to keep my figure for you.

"How am I supposed to keep my figure?" So the Emperor goes

up to the kitchen and says, "Right, give me 12 dishes.

"Small dishes. Bite-size dishes. And make it interesting."

So they come up with dim sum.

And dim sum, the literal translation from dim sum is

a touch of my heart, a touch of the heart.

Most Chinese restaurants that open up and down the country

would only serve dim sum until five o'clock

because you have to have a dedicated

department just to do dim sum, and dedicated chefs. So for us, we...

-They're trained differently then?

-Yes, the dim sum chef.

-They're like specialists.

-Correct.

The dim sum chef wouldn't know how to cook, say,

a bowl of noodles or something like that. And vice versa.

The normal chef doesn't know how to make dim sum.

Neither me nor Mason have got the first clue of how to make

either, I assumed we'd be shown the door.

But James gamely takes us down to the kitchen to see what we can do.

-So here, this is the dim sum area.

-Wow!

Well, you see, we've got these all prepared

because we are expecting a busy lunch.

So dim sum is all prepared, like, into steamers.

As soon as they knead it, they bring it over to that side to steam.

That looks like Birmingham!

BOTH LAUGH

Yeah, the new Birmingham.

So we'll show you what he's going to do first. So, got it out.

He's got to turn the pastry around. Form the shape.

When it's the right size, he's going to put the filling in.

Hey, we can do that!

Whee!

Remember what you learned from Mary Berry.

HE LAUGHS

-Hey, I...

-Getting there, getting there.

-Is that big enough?

Little bit bigger, little bit bigger.

Right, it's Terry's turn to put some meat inside.

Not much.

You've got to pinch it. Keep pinching it all the way round.

Pinch it.

-Look at that. What's wrong with that?

-Yeah, leave it on the side.

Look at that! Look at that one!

Of the two of them... Have looked at his one.

THEY LAUGH

-Oh, my God.

-That's not bad.

-This is more of a mouthful.

Thank you.

I'm very proud of mine.

To our two chefs - Xie Xie.

-Xie Xie.

-Thank you.

By now, the restaurant is filling up.

So we head into bother some of the diners.

Gentleman.

-Excuse us interrupting you. This is Mason, I'm Terry.

-Hi.

-Nice to meet you.

-How are you doing, guys?

Because you've agreed to speak to us, I thought

I'd bring you my very special dim sum that I made myself.

Oh, wow.

Tzu-Chao and Chi Cao are regulars at James' restaurant,

and as well as being connoisseurs of fine dim sum,

they are also artistes in their own right.

I'm a ballet dancer, a professional ballet dancer.

-I'm a ballet dancer as well.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Birmingham Ballet is very famous, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Very good reputation.

-Yeah, very good reputation.

We are actually only down the road.

-Well, maybe we'll go along and see it.

-Yeah, please.

-But you have to eat first.

-Of course.

You've got keep your energy levels up.

Who could refuse a personal invitation to the rehearsal studios

of the Birmingham Royal Ballet?

Of course, I was once considered to be the Rudolf Nureyev

of my generation,

until a golfing accident put paid to my dreams.

But Mason, he's still got a shot at the big time.

I'm going to get up the bar.

Go on, then. Show us some of your moves.

Does everybody in Birmingham know

that this is where the Royal Ballet is?

Actually, funny how that we've been here for 25 years,

I think still a lot of people from Birmingham don't really know

that there's actually a royal ballet company inside of Chinatown.

I mean, they come to see the shows. They expect us to be from,

I don't know, from London and travelling down here to perform.

I find it quite funny, you know?

They just don't really know that there's royal ballet,

yet every time they come to see us

perform without knowing that this is actually our home.

It's been a pleasure to talk to you.

Great to see your companion dance so beautifully. Carry on at the bar.

-Shall we do?

-Yeah.

MUSIC: The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky

THEY LAUGH

Ouch!

He's a game boy, that Mason.

Can you hear his knees crack?

I hope he'll be all right afterwards.

HE LAUGHS

That's very good!

Oh, you're better than me.

-Excuse me, barman.

-That's very good.

-Run the pints.

Our final stop on this Birmingham food exploration takes us

to a part of the city known as the Balti Triangle,

named after the curry dish that many consider to be Birmingham's

finest contribution to world cuisine.

I've heard of balti, you know? I've lived.

-I've never tried it. Was it good?

-It is delicious.

-And as long as you have a bit of naan to dip in it...

-Yeah.

-Bob's your uncle.

-I'm looking forward to it, Tel.

It'd be rude not to, seeing that we are in Birmingham.

The problem is, the balti has become so popular, you can

now get one in every city in the country.

And Birmingham wants it back!

I've come to meet the chap who's spearheading the campaign

to keep the balti Brummie.

You're the expert on the balti.

Now, Birmingham is far-famed as the inventor of the balti,

-is that not right?

-Absolutely.

It's a Pakistani Brummie fusion dish, basically.

How did it come about?

It came about because one of the Pakistani restaurants

was round here wanted to please,

if you like, the Pakistan community and the Birmingham community.

So it's a fusion between the way things are cooked abroad

in Pakistan and the way people liked having "a curry" in Britain.

So basically, in Pakistan, it would be slow-cooked for about an hour

and then served up in the dish it's cooked in.

And it be on the bone and it'd be cooked in ghee.

Here, it's cooked in vegetable oil.

It's fast cooked using a balti pan made in Birmingham,

I hasten to add.

And it's cooked, as I say, because it's cooked in vegetable oil,

it's a very clean taste

and the spices are thrown in during that fast cooking process.

So it's a style of cooking. It's not the spices that go in.

They're not unique. You can get them in any supermarket.

But it's the way it's cooked.

And that's why it has to be called a Birmingham balti.

-And if it's not a Birmingham balti, it's not a proper balti.

-Absolutely.

-Got it in one.

-Good man. Delighted to hear that.

While I told curry maniac Mason McQueen

that we were off to one of only four restaurants in Birmingham

to serve an authentic balti,

he could barely contain himself.

But when we got there, the owner had another surprise in store.

Mason, this is the famous Mohammed Ahmed,

proprietor of Al Frash.

Welcome, gentlemen, to Al Frash.

We are here to cook the world's first Irish balti.

The balti gets its name from the pan that it's cooked and served in.

I'm still a bit unclear how such a distinctive,

spicy dish can have anything to do with Irish cooking,

but, as you may have gathered, I'm no expert.

We have Chef Azam. One of the best balti chefs.

Far-famed Chef Azam.

-From what I hear. The master of the balti.

-Yes.

We'll be cooking a balti based on Irish ingredients today, Sir Terry.

You're not thinking about putting Irish stew or anything in it?

No Irish stew, but some of the core ingredients that

-go into an Irish stew will be going into the balti dish.

-Whoa!

So we'll be fusing East and West today.

You don't put potato in it, do you?

Little bit of potato, some carrot.

A little bit of parsley and some traditional balti

ingredients that we use for North Indian type of cooking.

The main ingredients of our Irish balti is lamb and parsley -

that's a nice touch.

And garlic, ginger

and traditional spices will give our dish the authentic balti feel.

It's quick to prepare - on average, only ten minutes.

Come on, Mason, seize the day!

Do you wan to give it a stir? Go on, give it a stir.

-Come on, Mason.

-Go on, Mason. Come on, son.

Go on. Careful, lad.

I don't want to lose you. We've a way to go yet.

Oh!

There's technique to it, innit?

What do you do, just keep moving it about?

Whoo-hoo-hoo! That's hot!

Mason, I don't want to be taking you back to Nancy

with a third-degree burn.

The tea towel has gone, Tel.

-Thank you, Azam.

-Thank you, my friend.

-Very nice to meet you.

-Thank you.

I look forward to eating it.

To celebrate this international culinary event,

which I feel sure will usher in a new age of friendship

and cooperation between Ireland and Birmingham,

we are throwing ourselves a bit of a banquet.

Joining us are students from the prestigious catering course

at the city's University College.

-Yay!

-Fantastic!

-That was wonderful.

-Wow, look at this.

What are all you people doing at my table?

-What's your name?

-I'm Joe.

-Hi, Joe.

-Nice to meet you.

-Terrance.

-Terrance. Good man.

-There's only a couple of us left.

-Oh, yeah.

-Who are these?

-Hi, I'm Ajay.

-Hi.

-I'm Sanu.

So, you are all wearing official-looking outfits.

-You're here to test the balti, is that right?

-Yeah.

So, you're not going to take any prisoners, are you?

OK, so tell us. You try it.

Tell us where either they are going wrong or they're going right.

It's a nerve-racking moment, as we debut our new dish.

-Terrance, what do you think?

-Fresh and spicy.

Got a bit of the chilli hitting the back of my throat. It's nice.

Ajay, you've eaten a lot of curry, presumably. A lot of tandoori.

-How do you think this differs?

-It's really full of flavour.

It's got amazing spice, hits you lovely.

So this, they say, is an Irish balti.

Does it taste any different to you from the other baltis you've had?

Not... No. This tastes a little bit sweeter to me.

-That's the only difference.

-Sweeter?

-Yeah.

That'll be the nature of the Irish hidden in it, you see.

-Thank you for joining us.

-Cheers. Thank you.

Really nice to have your company.

And really nice to have a really genuine Birmingham balti.

Oh, I think, Mason, at the end of our trip to Birmingham,

-we have to say that Sam Chamberlain was wrong.

-Totally, Terry.

-He made a big mistake giving Birmingham a miss.

-Yeah.

-I'm glad we came here, ain't you?

-Yeah, really glad.